This invention relates to a heat exchanger, and more specifically to a heat exchanger including a core of tubes for circulation of a heat transfer fluid, inserted in an assembly of aligned heat exchange inserts and a core of thermal storage material tanks inserted in the assembly of heat exchange inserts.
A heat exchanger commonly includes one or more rows of aligned tubes in which a heat transfer fluid circulates. The assembly of these tubes is generally designed referred to as a core. Such a heat exchanger is intended to enable a heat exchange between the heat transfer fluid circulating in the tubes and a fluid externally passing through the heat exchange device.
To improve this heat exchange, heat exchange inserts are arranged between the tubes and intended to increase the surface available for the heat exchange, and to disrupt the external fluid flow so as to enhance the performance of the heat exchanger.
Such a heat exchanger can, for example, be integrated in an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle. In this case, the external fluid passing through the device is generally air intended to be blown into the vehicle interior, and the heat transfer fluid is a coolant. The heat exchange is intended in this case to refresh the blowing air.
The circulation of fluid, inside the air conditioning system, is ensured by a compressor, generally powered directly by the engine of the motor vehicle.
Consequently, when the engine of the vehicle is stopped, the circulation of the fluid ceases, and the heat exchange between the air and the heat transfer fluid cannot take place. The Air blown into the vehicle interior is then no longer being refreshed. This situation is all the more problematic as recent systems, designed to reduce the fuel consumption of motor vehicles, automatically stop the engine when the vehicle is not moving. The vehicle interior is thus deprived of refreshed air.
It is known to combine, with a heat exchanger, thermal storage material tanks, in which the material stores heat or cold when the heat transfer fluid is circulating in the system, and restores them to the external fluid when the heat transfer fluid is no longer circulating. In the particular case described above, of an air conditioning system, it is known to provide the heat exchanger with cold storage material tanks, capable of storing cold when the engine is running and restoring it when the engine is stopped, but for the air to continue to be blown into the vehicle interior. Such heat exchangers are known in particular from documents FR 2 878 613 and FR 2 878 614.
However, these heat exchangers are not suitable for fluids circulating in tubes under high pressure, such as, for example, the working pressure of carbon dioxide.
One of the objectives of the invention is therefore to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.